Help! Is my betta constipated, sick or dying?

[bajabluefish]

For the past week my betta was hiding behind his filter, and floating completely sideways. Everytime i walk in the room he is sideways, and I think he is dead, but i wake him up and sometimes he will swim sideways in short fast spurts or sometimes he will just upright himself and float normally. I think I may have overfed him and caused swim bladder disease :( so I stopped feeding him two days ago, but he's still floating sideways and I'm very concerned.

He lives alone in a ten gallon tank
Has a low flowing filter
Doesn't have a heater, but the tank is near a window and temp is usually always a consistent 78 F
I do 25% water changes every week with conditioned water

Also, I've noticed a small bulge in his side, but I never noticed it before, not sure if it's always been there or not :/

[ChoclateBetta]

How big is the tank?

[MeaghanElizabeth]

10 gallons, as said above.

[ChoclateBetta]

Thanks and sounds like either swim bladder disease or too much current.

[lelei]

You may want to try some Epsom salts it is good for internal issues, especially if he is constipated, and needs some help there..start with warm, clean, conditioned water, and add 1tsp of Epson and change water daily..for 4-5 days to see if there is some improvement.

[lelei]

Btw..what were you feeding him?

[bajabluefish]

Thanks, I haven't fed him in three days and i've put him in a different smaller tank with no gravel to see if he's pooped at all...but he hasn't so i will definitely try the epsom salt!
And I feed him Aqua Culture Betta Pellets